This section is intended to provide information to facilitate an understanding of various technologies described herein. As the section's title implies, this is a discussion of related art. That such art is related in no way implies that it is prior art. The related art may or may not be prior art. It should therefore be understood that the statements in this section are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Generally, radar provides marine vessels with the capability to safely navigate courses through unknown bodies of water. As such, radar is typically considered a useful tool in marine navigation by tracking neighboring vessels and obstacles in close proximity to a marine vessel. Further, radar devices may utilize technology associated with solid-state radar having improved performance against interference from other radars operating in a same frequency band, e.g., other solid-state radars or magnetron based radars.
Some conventional approaches generate a transmit signal at a low frequency and then up-convert to a transmit frequency, which typically creates unwanted cross-talk and leakage, thus causing problems and undermining radio spectrum standards. For instance, in FIG. 1, this conventional approach refers to designs with one or more up-conversions that tend to create a number of unwanted mixing product signals and local oscillator breakthrough. These unwanted signals are typically blocked with filtering, thus adding need for filter components. Further, depending on particular specifications, some filtering components typically use multiple stages, including waveguide type filters.
Moreover, the conventional approach of traditional pulse compression marine radars can be exorbitantly expensive, and these traditional marine radars systems often create unwanted mixing products each time there is a frequency conversion. Further, further problems arise in that these traditional marine radar systems can create out-of-band emissions that can fail to meet regulatory issues and standards, can be expensive for maintenance and part costs, and can typically use substantial physical space for circuitry.